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The day a Lubitel shutter jammed on me in a client's kitchen changed my cleaning habits
Was out doing an on-site CLA for a vintage camera collector in Portland, had a Lubitel 2 seize up mid-test because I hadn't blown out the old grease properly beforehand. Now I'm doing a full dry-fire cycle and inspection before I even touch a drop of solvent on any old shutters. Anybody else had a dumb mistake force them to change their workflow?
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jordan_young22d ago
That "full dry-fire cycle and inspection before I even touch a drop of solvent" line really hits home. It's funny how one small skip in our prep routine can teach us more than a hundred smooth jobs.
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the_xena22d agoTop Commenter
Skipping prep taught me nothing except that I need better habits, not more life lessons.
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martin.paige17d agoMost Upvoted
Full dry-fire cycle and inspection BEFORE solvent? That's actually backward from what most people I've trained with do. You're supposed to check function and safety with an empty chamber FIRST, then do your solvent clean, then do your final dry-fire and inspection to make sure everything's moving right. Skipping the solvent step means you're just pushing grit around with oil. One guy I knew skipped his solvent soak on a bolt carrier and ended up with carbon buildup so bad the firing pin wouldn't move freely. That's not a habit problem, that's a process problem. You need the solvent to break down the crud, then the dry-fire to verify it's all working.
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